Just started planted tank

[Berny]

I need opinions on how to improve.
- tank: 60x30x36
- light: 24wx2 t5
- substrate: sand with monster root
- plants: dwarf hair
- fauna: feeder shrimp and fish, 3 albino Senegal, 2 bichir (No idea what breed), 5 clown loach, 1 albino common Plexiglas and some tiny Plexiglas.
- fertilizer: flourish excel
- extras: bubble air curtain on left, DIY Co2 on right (I know not needed, But it's for the bubble effect)
- future plans: will add a branch driftwood tomorrow night or day after and frogbits soon, to provide shade and shelter for loach

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[felix_fx2]

take out bubble curtain or on it ONLY after photo period (which i do not know how long is your's)
your bubble effect hor.. contradicts you having co2, why? cause air it pump out is mixed from air.

Very soon the ghost shrimp (feeder shrimp) all will get eaten by bichir.

Maybe you want to add Vallisneria type plants, bichir will like better. To be rear of the tank would be good, can add when adding driftwood (assuming their presoaked and will sink, but then... if never... you'll meed to anchor them down. until they sink.

You may want to google "bichir biotope" to get a impression.

what is plexiglas?

[Berny]

take out bubble curtain or on it ONLY after photo period (which i do not know how long is your's)
your bubble effect hor.. contradicts you having co2, why? cause air it pump out is mixed from air.

Very soon the ghost shrimp (feeder shrimp) all will get eaten by bichir.

Maybe you want to add Vallisneria type plants, bichir will like better. To be rear of the tank would be good, can add when adding driftwood (assuming their presoaked and will sink, but then... if never... you'll meed to anchor them down. until they sink.

You may want to google "bichir biotope" to get a impression.

what is plexiglas?

Pixeglas. = Pleco, sorry, auto corrected by phone when I type pleco.

I just added some branch wood tied to moss. Added Co2 because previously when I tried planted tank, my plants fail to grow. Will upload a updated pic tonight or later when I'm home.

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[felix_fx2]

Pixeglas. = Pleco, sorry, auto corrected by phone when I type pleco.

I just added some branch wood tied to moss. Added Co2 because previously when I tried planted tank, my plants fail to grow. Will upload a updated pic tonight or later when I'm home.

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wow... your phone power lol...
if you read and dig deeper. you'll see your not the only who had both.

even deeper in, got someone made a tank for bichir. very nice and left a impression to me.

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[Berny]

Just reach home and got the shock of my life, water turned brown (expected) and it's super cloudy, can't even see the back of my tank at all. All my feeder fish and loaches floating on water, any idea what happened?

- added driftwood treated with hotwater last night.
- tested last night, was ~6.6, added Ph stabilizer for ph7.
- water was slightly brown, lipton tea color, and clear, fishes looks healthy, No color loss this morning at around 9+am

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[Berny]

Clown loaches died, water is super cloudy, any idea why?

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[limz_777]

its cloudy probably of mass death , did you add surface agitation when lights off ? since its diy co2

can see most of the fish at the top grasping for air

[Berny]

its cloudy probably of mass death , did you add surface agitation when lights off ? since its diy co2

can see most of the fish at the top grasping for air

Eheim outlet stirring the too surface along with bubble curtain at the back, I did notice my Co2 output and dissolve rate is quite high though

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[felix_fx2]

Cycling of the water not complete, hope you already did some partial water change.
When mass death happen, need do some water change as ammonia will be quite high and will quickly deaths will escalate.

[Berny]

Did 10% in morning and 40% last night, for cycling, I'm using a 2month old filter, water is clear this morning already

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[felix_fx2]

using a filter with bb already matured. speeds up cycling.

clear water don't mean cycled, but means filter working good...

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[Berny]

But 2 month+ old filter would have matured bb already. Before this, I used a 2month+(if I remember correctly) corner filter to kickstart this current filter by running together

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[ivantan]

maybe you introduced the fishes to fast into your tank and your filter cannot handle the spike in bioload?

[Berny]

Fishes has been stable for 1month already. Only changes I made recently are stated above (ie. Added wood, Java moss, Ph testing and ph7 stabilizer

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[Mystikboy]

Might be a co2 problem. Feeder fishes are generally very resilient, yet they were the ones that died and yet the bichirs did not. Only reason I can think of is that the loaches and feeders suffocated, because bichirs can breathe atmospheric air, hence they survived...

[felix_fx2]

co2 might have been abit too much, considering your bio load. (btw, how long was that filter already having matured bb, also did you fill the tank with tap water direct?)

think if only few fish die, your bio filtration could have handled it.

Mystikboy, agree that bichir are more hardy then some other fish....

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[Berny]

co2 might have been abit too much, considering your bio load. (btw, how long was that filter already having matured bb, also did you fill the tank with tap water direct?)

think if only few fish die, your bio filtration could have handled it.

Mystikboy, agree that bichir are more hardy then some other fish....

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I'm suspecting ammonia spike because of dead feeder shrimps, color turned white due to high temp, 33°c.

For water change, I usually add prime into my tank before adding in tap water, No issues with my loaches for that.

For matured bb, how do I know if they are mature?

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[Mystikboy]

Check ammonia and nitrite levels. If they're at a minimum/zero, the BB community is more or less established

[Berny]

Check ammonia and nitrite levels. If they're at a minimum/zero, the BB community is more or less established

Never checked those before, But it should be already, current filter has been running first month with a old filter and 2nd month alone

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[felix_fx2]

Check ammonia and nitrite levels. If they're at a minimum/zero, the BB community is more or less established

brings up a question, he just had mass deaths in the tank. If his test within 24 hours show up zero amonia nitrite right after the water change hmmmmm.....

@FrozenDuck, you mean that you saw dead ghost shrimp (killed by bichir?) and never removed them? But at least the worry you don't use prime and such is out.
Btw, Besides bichir and the plecos still alive. What else is? feeder platy?